Columbus Foundation Fellowship Programs

This past week I was able to learn more about our peer model program and finish the social media video for it. I wanted to try something different than my previous videos and film a more casual video to showcase the day in the life of one of our peer models. So, I filmed using only my phone and did minimal edits on the video. To my surprise, this video has received more engagement than the previous videos that I’ve made and posted that I had spent more time to edit and produce. The video received more likes, shares, views. I think this is because it features one of our students and viewers get to see the engagement with staff and lessons taught on the daily basis. I think this says a lot about the Bridgeway community because viewers value more of the content being shown and human aspect of the social posts rather than the superficial aspects such as the aesthetics of the visuals. This is something I will keep in mind when creating the rest of the social posts this summer. It is also a valuable lesson that I will carry on to the future projects that I pursue as well.

I also continued to post about our summer programming. This week, we had a petting zoo and therapy dog come to Bridgeway which I will show through these photos below!

Another takeaway from this week was from our fellow’s learning session at the Columbus Foundation. This is a time where all of the fellows at the Columbus Foundation meet and learn about various topics on leadership. Our supervisor, Dr. Lomax spoke about the concept of power – what power is and where it can be found. He emphasized the impact of power within which builds off the fact that individual people are powerful in of themselves and even more powerful when they are together. This is something that I will keep ruminating about because it is a new way of looking at power that hasn’t ever occurred to me before as I’ve always viewed power as something that someone has over another person. Something else that stuck in my mind is that power can come from knowledge. Dr. Lomax talked about how he has dedicated time to continually explore his thoughts, ideas, and beliefs even when he had so many other life responsibilities. This motivates me to spend more time learning about issues that interest me and help me find my “why” or purpose in doing the work I want to do.

I’m excited to share that the blog post I mentioned in last week’s update has officially been published on the Audubon Great Lakes website! You can read it here: https://gl.audubon.org/news/juneteenth-and-father%E2%80%99s-day-celebration-grange-insurance-audubon-center

Each week at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center has been getting busier and busier, and this week was no exception. I finished the first draft of the sponsorship proposal I’ve been working on and reviewed it with my boss. She encouraged me to get as creative as possible with it, add images, and try to condense the descriptions. This is quite a challenge for me because I tend to write a lot, and it’s difficult to know what to take out since everything seems important. Now, I’ll be focusing on making the proposal look more aesthetic, which will involve a lot of trial and error since there are so many directions that I could take it in.

On Wednesday, we had our biweekly meeting at the Columbus Foundation. We discussed many thought-provoking topics, particularly how everyone feels trapped in the current system of capitalism without realizing that other systems exist. Change is necessary, and we left the meeting thinking about how to make that change happen. We contemplated what would happen if everyone empowered themselves instead of leaving power to the top 1%. I often think about this but feel stuck because I don’t know how to transform such a deeply embedded societal system into one that promotes equality and justice for everyone and nature.

After the meeting, I went to the Linden Community Center to help with the after-camp nature-based programming. It was raining, so we stayed inside and played bird bingo, which the kids were super excited about. When the rain slowed down, we took them to the sensory garden, but unfortunately, a lot of it had died because of the extreme heat last week. This was an important lesson for the kids about how climate change can impact plant growth and why it’s crucial to address it.

On Thursday, I helped out with the Audubon Adventure Camp with K-1st graders. This group was definitely more chaotic than the last one and didn’t listen to us as well. We took them down to the river to look for bugs, and they caught a lot of worms, snails, and even some frogs. Later, I went to the Woodward Community Center for more after-camp programming. With over 40 kids, we split them into younger and older groups of 20 and set up two games. I was in charge of the migration game, where kids pretend to be birds facing different obstacles during migration. The younger group was very engaged, but the older group lost interest after about twenty minutes, though they were interested in using binoculars to look for birds. It was super hot that day, so everyone enjoyed popsicles to cool off.

On Friday, camp was more disciplined because we had an older volunteer who knew how to make the kids listen. We took them to the wetlands and gave them nets to catch small creatures. They caught tiny fish, fish eggs, and even a baby turtle! We emphasized the importance of being gentle and quickly returning the creatures to their habitats. We also had them decorate a picture frame and gave them a photo of all the campers together, which the parents loved. We ended the day with nature trivia, and I was impressed by how knowledgeable the kids were about biological processes. I took short videos throughout the day to make a “day in the life” video for social media.

Saturday was a long day because I had to cover for a coworker who had an emergency, working from opening to close by myself. I helped set up for an event starting at 8 AM and had my first experience with event facilitation. There was another event where the Ohio Falconry group brought birds, including a falcon, Harris’s hawk, and my favorite, a Eurasian eagle owl. It was fascinating to learn about these birds and see them fly onto the kids’ arms. I also connected with Nicole Jackson, who also went to OSU, and it was refreshing to hear about her experiences post-college.

Today, I’m back at the center, mainly manning the front desk and talking to visitors. It’s been an incredibly busy week, and I’m excited to see what next week brings!

It’s hard to believe that I’ve just completed my fourth week at Seeds of Caring. It feels like just yesterday I was starting my journey, and now I’m already halfway through my 10-week fellowship, provided by The Columbus Foundation. This week was smooth, though not without its challenges, as we prepare for our annual break—a time for the staff to rejuvenate from the year’s hard work.

Reflecting on my first week, I’m reminded of how every journey has a beginning and an end, emphasizing the importance of making the most of every moment. This week continued our focus on summer program events, reinforcing our mission to empower the same children we had from previous weeks to create a kinder community.

Monday was a bit rough. We had planned to visit the same school we had been going to these past weeks to teach the kids about kindness, specifically towards hospitalized children and families at Ronald McDonald House. Unfortunately, upon arrival, we discovered the school was closed for the day without prior notice. Our project manager, Juliana Hussman, took the opportunity to treat me and the other intern, Morgan Murley, which was a nice break from our routine. We returned to the office to finish up the day’s activities.

Tuesday went smoothly. We visited the school and had a wonderful time with the kids, teaching them to be compassionate towards hospitalized children and their families. They enthusiastically packed snack kits and made blankets for the families at Ronald McDonald House. It’s heartwarming to see children learn the importance of helping others in need and realize there is no difference between them and others in their community.

Wednesday was a slower day with many staff members working from home to finalize tasks before the break. I focused on my research project and gathered materials for Thursday’s event.

Thursday mirrored Tuesday’s success. I had the opportunity to lead the event, explaining the activities and guiding the children through the lessons. Knowing myself and how I like everything to be perfect, I felt I could have done better with my presentation but it was a valuable learning experience as the children still had a great time helping. I’ve already started thinking about how to improve my presentation skills in July.

Thursday mirrored Tuesday’s success. I led the event, explaining activities and guiding the children through the lessons. Although I felt I could have done better with my presentation, it was a valuable learning experience. I’ve already started thinking about how to improve my presentation skills in July.

Friday was particularly eventful. We hosted an event with IGS Energy, where we shared our mission and impact with their employees and their children. It was an inspiring experience and we are hoping that IGS Energy stays interested in partnering with us to further our cause. This partnership could bring additional resources and volunteers, amplifying our efforts to make a difference in the community.

Overall, the week was smooth and fulfilling. As we work from home next week, I look forward to continuing my journey with Seeds of Caring and embracing every opportunity to grow and contribute to this incredible organization.

Until next week, have a great time! 🌱❤️

Kanyin

Although I am majoring in marketing I haven’t had much experience in content creation specifically digital marketing. Marketing is more complex than just advertising and requires research to segment and target the right consumers, but research is not my interest. Before the fellowship, I had experience using different platforms mainly for photo editing to post to social media. I had also previously used editing software like iMovie for a film class but only made one film at the very end of the class.

Working at City Year Columbus I was introduced to Capcut, Clipchamp, Mailchimp, and dove deeper into Canva. I had heard of Capcut before from the social media app TikTok. I knew it was popular for editing videos but never tried it out myself. Clipchamp was completely new to me as was Mailchimp. Canva I had used for presentations so to the extent of PowerPoint or Google Slides. However, one of the tasks in my role at City Year Columbus is supporting social media and communication efforts. I had been asked to edit videos of our specific site’s alumni asking them about their service as AmeriCorps members, how it has affected the trajectory of their career, what skills they learned, experience gained, etc. in celebration of City Year’s 30^th anniversary as an entity.  

I started off editing the videos in Clipchamp because that was the first one recommended to me by a coworker. Although it was relatively easy to navigate it did take a while to edit each video because the split function could only be so precise. I played around with the audio adding background music and transitions between each clip to try to make it more engaging. A growing trend is people’s short attention span, so I had to cut it to 2 minutes from the 7-9 minutes the original videos were. The problem with getting rid of that much content is I feel you lose some important information or context, but I was able to salvage most of the highlights.

Although Clipchamp worked well for what I used it for it fell short when it came to generating captions. You can choose to go through and manually add every caption, but I see that as extremely inefficient. I then edited the videos again in Capcut to create captions using their AI tool. Even though AI is still relatively new theirs was able to get 90% of the audio from the videos which I thought was impressive. In the end, I was able to learn all the necessary functions for editing videos but still have lots of room for improvement!

As I looked a my calendar this week, I realized how many meetings with the team I had. There were a least 1 or 2 meetings a day, though Wednesday was my busiest day this week. On Monday, I met with my supervisor to discuss the donor survey further, which we then tailored down to roughly 18 questions. This was a significant cut considering I wrote 30 potential questions. In writing the donor survey, I have learned a lot about the donation process. Some main takeaways were learning techniques to retain donors and how donations are accounted for. There is a lot more accounting done within non-profits that get credit for. The CEO mentioned that getting well-versed in basic accounting will be a helpful skill; I see why now. As the weeks go on I am connecting the dots on how the organization functions.

Wednesday was a big day for the team because a board meeting took place before our annual summer party. When I got back from the meeting at The Columbus Foundation, I was immediately met with everyone trying to get the party together. Everyone pitched in with setting up, getting the food, moving tables, and assembling a step and repeat. After the meeting, the party was in full swing. I was able to meet some of the board members, donors, and a board fellow who was assigned to The Women’s Fund through Ohio State. My networking skills have grown over the years to the point where I no longer feel nervous about networking. In the past, I was overthinking what I should say and how I should act when in reality, it is about being personable and honest. More people appreciate honest conversation rather than a rehearsed one that sounds perfect. Using this thought process has helped me stop overthinking so much and just be present in moments where you’re in networking situations and don’t know the majority of the room.

The collaborative effort that it took to set up the summer party made me grateful to be a part of such a great team for the summer. The team always acknowledges the effort everyone puts in whether it is with setting up a party or pitching a great idea there’s always acknowledgment. In some workplaces that’s not always the case, though I am glad I have it with the team at The Women’s Fund, and is something I will look for going forward. 

See y’all in the next one!

Kennedy Smith

              Now that the week is over, it shocks me to think that four weeks have already passed. In some ways, I feel like this fellowship just begun, and I am still getting used to my placement and all the opportunities I can to contribute to such a great and necessary organization; in other ways, though, I do feel like have settled in well and am able to grasp what good can come out of this fellowship—not just in what I can learn and gain from my placement, but also hopefully what I can give and offer to Legal Aid’s work and mission.

              Of course, I am very aware that I am not able to provide directly to Legal Aid’s mission, as I, an undergraduate student, have no training, experience, or even much knowledge of legal work; however, despite what I lack in ability and experience, I find joy and satisfaction from the little ways in which I can help. I have long believed in paying one’s dues before one can claim to make meaningful waves in pursuit of a cause, whatever it could be, so I hope I can slowly learn and develop while I work and assist with the organization.

              This is not to say, however, that I have not been given the opportunity to engage in some interesting and necessary work. In reality, I am happy to say I have gotten to enjoy helping in some new projects within the development team, such as kickstarting our new donor and board member spotlight series, researching and assisting in grant applications, and now building a bank of important and noteworthy client stories, which, once completed, will be of use to the entire organization in promoting the work that LASCO does to donors, potential clients, pro-bono attorneys, and the public in general. This will be a large project, as Legal Aid takes so many clients that even the most interesting stories can get lost in the vast database once forgotten around the office. I am excited and grateful to be a part of it.on.

        Gus

Hi everyone! My fourth week at CRIS flowed smoothly, but it had a few hiccups in between. I stuck to similar work — collecting food pantry boxes and delivering them to clients, taking clients shopping, and outreach to potential partner organizations. Excitingly, several organizations responded to my partnership exploration this week, so my calendar next week is busy with meetings for that!

Outside my routine duties, I worked with our arrival team to furnish apartments and helped transport furniture. And we made some rookie mistakes. We hauled a couch and loveseat to the apartment for our first trip, and once we had everything securely latched in, we went on our way. All went great until we reached the highway. Immediately after picking up speed, we glanced into the rearview mirror to see loose cushions flapping in the wind on the cusp of flying off. We took the next exit to stop and place them in the cab, but when I got out to make the switch, only one cushion remained — the other lost to 315 South. Scrambling back into the truck, we returned to our storage unit to grab a new loveseat and set out to find the lost cushion (with the new loveseat’s cushions in the cab, safe and sound). On our way to the highway, we kept thinking we saw the cushion on the side of the road, but as we inched closer, we realized we mistook the cushion for concrete on grass. Knowing the cushion likely flew off on the highway, we remained positive, and after a minute cruising down 315, we found our cushion lying on the shoulder. Relief coursed through our bodies. We picked it up, completed our drop-off, and returned the cushion to its proper spot.

I don’t know what we were thinking when we decided not to secure everything in the first place, but we certainly won’t make that mistake ever again when we transport something for our clients. In a relatively uneventful week, this injected some worry and relief. That positive energy continued when I saw the interest from potential partners, and I plan to carry that energy into next week as I hit the ground running again. It will be a short work week, and my supervisor is on vacation so that I will take full responsibility for food security for the first time. Luckily, through all the challenges I faced and overcame in these first four weeks, I am confident everything will go well, and I look forward to reporting back next week!

This has been one of my most productive weeks yet in terms of my primary project. Since the start of my fellowship, I have been working on finding homes for 1800 trees and have finally started receiving responses! In previous weeks, I spent a lot of time participating in volunteer events and outdoor work, which I have really enjoyed. However, this week I was able to spend most of my time in the office and made significant progress. I spent my time sending interest emails, making cold calls, compiling resources, creating advertising materials, and doing whatever else was necessary to continue spreading the word about the Tree Giveaway. As much as I love spending time outside, I surprised myself by also enjoying the behind-the-scenes work.This morning, I realized I have received 5 responses to my Interest Form. I know it isn’t a lot, but it feels very rewarding to see that I am making tangible progress!

On Thursday morning, I had my first workday at the Weinland Park Tree Nursery. This nursery is located right off 4th Street in the middle of the community, which is quite different from the other nursery I typically visit. I spent the morning planting and weeding with my coworkers and some of the most involved volunteers. We have three key volunteers who help manage the two nurseries, and I really enjoy seeing them each week and working together to find homes for the trees they have dedicated so much time to.

In addition to spreading the word online, I scheduled a few tabling events at upcoming festivals and farmers markets. I am looking forward to attending these events across the city and interacting more with citizens. Also, this week we welcomed a new full-time employee! They are the new watershed coordinator and will help manage all the upcoming events and plans. This has been great so far, and I am excited to have someone new in the office.

If you are interested in learning more about the Tree Giveaway or even better considering planting one, here is the link to the info page! https://www.olentangywatershed.org/?page_id=11385

Hello friends! Last week, I titled my blog Calm Before the Storm because I was anticipating a storm of changes or running around this week. However, just like the Ohio weather, that did not happen. On Monday, our new executive director Kate Bauer began her work here at Leadership Columbus. I wasn’t really sure what would happen regarding my role here, but so far I have continued on with my projects. Side note for all the readers, there’s only 5 of us including myself here at Leadership Columbus so there could’ve been anything on the agenda this week. I’m in more of an all-hands on deck role here, which I’m thankful for because it keeps me working on various tasks.

This week, I spent a large amount of my time working with photos and videos we have in our Onedrive. I came to realize that there were hundreds of pictures taking up storage that had nothing to do with Leadership Columbus; so I’m happy to have freed up some storage there. One of my projects this summer is to gather pictures for our 50th Anniversary Celebration to have hung around the venue. These pictures are supposed to represent Leadership Columbus and the work that we’ve done throughout the years. I am enjoying this project because it gives me to opportunity to see so many happy and fulfilled faces over the years. It also proves to me that this organization is truly having an impact on the community it serves. However, this project also poses a slight challenge to me because I have only been here 4 weeks. That being said, I am doing my best to find photos that I think represent the beauty of Leadership Columbus. Luckily, I can put as many pictures as I see fit into a folder, then go back through and narrow it down with people who have definitely been here longer than me. Honestly though, it does warm my heart to see all the pictures throughout the 50 years and to see the smiling faces of a community I care so deeply about.

This week was chalk full of events that I was grateful to attend. First, on Kate’s first day, we just so happened to have an alumni happy hour that we merged into a first day welcome event after work. I was able to meet and talk with more great people who came to celebrate with us. I was also grateful to sit in on our Executive Edge Program day at the Ohio Chamber of Commerce. The topics for that day were all about psychological safety and the importance of power-with vs power-over. I had learned general knowledge about the need for psychological safety along with different types of power while taking classes at Ohio State’s Fisher College of Business. However, I was able to get a more in depth explanation of the two topics which paired very nicely into our talks Wednesday morning at the Columbus Foundation.

I also met for coffee with one of our board members, Ralph Smithers, Jr. It was very beneficial to hear from someone who represents this organization well, but in a different way than my coworkers. It was very interesting to hear his story and why he wanted to get involved with Leadership Columbus. I’m trying to make it a personal goal to meet with as many people affiliated with Leadership Columbus during my time here. There are boatloads of people in the community who have completed our programs or have worked with us in some way. For me, my problem was always that I was never good reaching out to strangers and trying to expand my network. My time here at Leadership Columbus has opened me up and gotten me out of my comfort zone a little bit by going to all these events and meeting all these great people. I’m able to learn all about the nonprofit world, and at the same time expand my network which is an important piece of being a young businessman.

Until next week,

Austin

                Hello! After another week at Legal Aid, I am excited to share what I have been up to and what I am looking forward to here at LASCO. My third week here has been another great one, and I really feel that I am settling into the work here. To begin, we wrapped up the first big project that I’ve been here for: mailing out the 2023 Annual Report! This was a huge project that required a lot of organization and logistics that has been worked on for the past couple weeks, along with several hours of executing the plans. In the end, after a few hitches along the way, we were able to send out hundreds of annual reports with handwritten notes to supporters, donors, and friends of Legal Aid. This process really helped me realize how much things like this matter in the fundraising world. Donors and supporters are the lifeblood of a nonprofit organization, so doing the little things to show appreciation and keep those relationships strong is of tantamount importance.

                Besides this, I also had the opportunity to help out at a tabling event aimed at those seeking help with reentry and second chance opportunities. I was beyond grateful for my manager for telling me about this opportunity and letting me jump on it, as I am very interested in this area of work. At the event, a staff member and I handed out resources and discussed with prospective clients about how Legal Aid might be helpful to them in navigating the reentry process. As some know, leaving incarcerated life and once again participating in the outside life is a difficult process, with obstacles and prejudice everywhere for someone with a criminal record. This is why the work of Legal Aid is so important, as it can help someone reentering society be able to work past what their record says, possibly sealing or expunging it entirely. Poverty should not be a barrier to someone reentering society after serving the time handed onto them, so the work of Legal Aid in this field is vital. These kinds of tabling events, I have learned, are a great demonstration of what Legal Aid is capable of for the communities it serves.

                Finally, my work with communications here has been more settled. We’ve launched the new merged Facebook, along with some other social medias, and I have been able to help the organization in transitioning to a new era in its communications work. I love the work and mission of Legal Aid, so I believe it is very important that we demonstrate that to the public by reaching out online. This also allows us to reach out to prospective clients and anyone who needs legal information! All in all, this has been a great week, and I am excited for the work to come.